Versace's Very Last Design

Gianni Versace CALLED his 11-year-old niece Allegra ""my little princess.'' And in his will, revealed last week, the slain designer ensured that she would live like one. He left the fair-haired girl most of his $50 million personal fortune and his entire share (estimated at $450 million) of the family's fashion empire. Her windfall will be managed by her parents (Versace's sister, Donatella, who owns 20 percent of the business, and her American husband, Paul Beck) and by Versace's brother, Santo (a 35 percent owner). Santo's two kids didn't get anything, but Allegra's brother, Daniel, 6, inherits a valuable art collection, including works by Picasso and LEger, and Versace's companion, Antonio D'Amico, gets a monthly income of $29,000 and the right to live in any of Versace's four opulent homes.

Another part of the Versace legacy began taking shape last week as filming of a TV movie about the designer's July slaying in Miami Beach started in Ft. Lauderdale. ""The Versace Murder,'' produced by Pan Am Pictures, will star Franco Nero as Versace, Stephen Bauer as a dogged FBI agent and young stage actor Shane Perdue as Andrew Cunanan, blamed for killing four other men as well as Versace before shooting himself. Other movies about the tragedy are planned, but this one could be the first to air, early next year.

© 1997